Cat and Mouse
by Isobel Morgan
Summary: When something starts killing angels for their Grace, Castiel calls in Sam and Dean to help, only to find something more disturbing than any of them expected.
1. Chapter 1

**Cat and Mouse**

**1.**

It was a quiet day, and that made Sam and Dean instantly suspicious.

The sun was shining, the coffee was hot and there was pie, so Dean was pretty much set up. Sitting in the window booth of the diner, he was enjoying a moment of peace while Sam was scrolling through news articles online.

The pretty waitress topped up their coffee with a smile and Dean was idly wondering if it was worth trying to get her number when his phone rang.

"Huh. It's Cas."

Sam glanced up as Dean answered the call, his heart sinking as he saw the way Dean's expression changed.

"Hey, hey, slow down man. What is it?"

Sam couldn't hear the reply, but the way Dean's jaw clenched at Cas' words told him all he needed to know.

"Okay. Where?"

Dean hung up.

"So. Trouble?" Sam asked, already gathering his things.

"How d'you guess?" Dean replied sourly, throwing a handful of bills onto the table, picking up his jacket.

"Did he say what kind?"

"Not much. Something's killing angels, and he can't tell what."

The brothers left the diner, heading back to the Impala, parked across the street.

"So... not another angel? Or a demon?"

"He says not. I don't know how he can tell, but he needs our help. It's only a couple of hours away."

"Okay."

"I knew it was too good to last."

Dean's good mood had vanished as he slammed the car door behind him.

"What was?"

Dean gestured back toward the diner.

"Quiet. A day without monsters, or weird stuff, or dead people."

"Or dead angels," Sam added.

"Or that," Dean agreed, and they drove away.

* * *

When they arrived, Castiel was waiting for them, talking quietly with a petite young woman outside an abandoned building.

"Well, that's a good start," Dean remarked, sarcasm laying heavy on his tone. "An empty warehouse. Nothing bad's ever happened in one of those."

"I'm guessing you don't think this is nothing," Sam replied, not entirely without his own sarcasm. "That Cas is mistaken, and it's not a big deal?"

"Honestly?" Dean asked. "If it wasn't for Cas, I wouldn't care. Angel business ain't our business, right? They made it pretty clear they don't want us involved enough times."

"Still," Sam tried to be diplomatic. "Couldn't hurt to find out what's going on. Keep ahead of the game for once, maybe?"

Dean shrugged, and they went over to join Cas.

"Thank you for coming," the angel greeted them. "I wish I could tell you what's been happening, but it's difficult to explain to a human."

"Oh, then I'm so glad you called," Dean snarked, but he followed Cas into the building anyway.

"Why did you call us?" Sam asked, genuinely curious. "What can we do that you guys can't?"

Castiel looked slightly embarrassed.

"I - you have more experience than I do in this sort of thing. I was hoping you could see something I missed."

"A fresh pair of eyes. I get you."

Castiel led them to the body, still laid out on the floor, the shadow of her wings burned into the ground.

Surrounding her were spray-painted red sigils, though the other angels had opened a large crack in the floor that ran right through them, allowing them to approach.

"I wish I could say this is unusual, but unfortunately there is still much infighting among us. However-"

Castiel indicated the multitude of small puncture wounds around the woman's neck.

"What is unusual is the way she was killed."

The Winchesters crouched down beside the body, trying to see what he meant.

"I thought only one of your swords could kill an angel."

"It was. But the way she was tortured before her death... I believe her Grace was being extracted."

Sam and Dean exchanged a glance, eyebrows raising.

"How is that possible?" Dean asked.

"And why?" Sam added. "What would anyone want it for?"

Castiel looked even more serious than he usually did.

"I'm not sure. Perhaps for use in magic. But as far as I'm aware, only another angel can extract Grace."

"And it couldn't be an angel, because of the warding," Sam deducted.

"Maybe a demon figured out a way to do it." Dean frowned.

"That had occurred to me," Cas replied. "But I don't believe this was the work of any common demon. This had to be something powerful."

"Wouldn't put it past Crowley to try something like this."

"I did consider that," Castiel agreed.

Sam stood up, considering the scene from different angles.

"Who is she?"

"Her name was Lailah. She is not of any particular importance to any faction I am aware of. I don't know why someone would target her."

"Someone got a hate-on for angels?" Dean was examining the body more closely, turning her over. Other than the marks on her throat, there was a stab wound to the chest, obviously the fatal injury, but no signs of a fight.

"Possibly. The idea that someone is hunting down angels to steal their Grace is... disturbing."

The brothers paused.

"This has happened before? Exactly the same?"

Castiel nodded, staring down at the body.

"I was informed of others, but we did not see the pattern until now. There has been so much killing..."

"It's okay." Dean slapped the angel on the back in a brotherly fashion. "We'll get the sonofabitch. What have you looked for so far?"

"Zophiel has been scrying, with limited success," Castiel indicated the petite young woman standing behind him, the one he had been talking with earlier. She raised a pendant crystal on a thin chain, swinging it from her fingers.

"Whoever it is, they're either very good at hiding or they're something I've never seen before," she told them.

Dean and Sam looked her over, a little surprised to see an angel inhabit the form of a twenty-something woman with multicoloured hair cut into short spikes, a number of piercings and tattoos, dressed like she was going to a gig at CBGB.

She seemed amused at their confusion.

"I know, kind of an unusual vessel. But just cos she looks like Lisbeth Salander, doesn't mean she's not the type to pray. We do okay, me and her. And I prefer Zoe, these days."

"Um, okay," Sam managed, momentarily thrown. "So.. you don't know who killed, uh, Lailah was it?"

"Uh huh," Zophiel/Zoe's eyes filled with tears as she looked over the corpse of her fellow angel (or rather the body of the vessel), lying on the scorched remains of the angel's wings.

"It must be some kind of demon, or a monster. You kill monsters, don't you?" Her face brightened a little, staring up at Sam hopefully.

He smiled back, slightly awkward.

"Uh... We try."

"We got a better track record than most," Dean interrupted. "Whatever this is, it's toast."

Zoe winced.

"I like toast," she replied, her expression turning mournful.

There was an uncomfortable pause, then she wandered away, kneeling down inside a circle of candles and spinning the crystal again.

The brothers stared after her, confused.

"Is - she okay?" Sam asked.

"Fine," Castiel replied, brow creasing in incomprehension. "She's always like that."

"So..." Dean tried not to roll his eyes. "What else you got? Any footage? Cameras?"

"Not yet." Cas dug in the pocket of his coat for the fake FBI badge. "Should we go to the police station?"

"Uh, that might be difficult to explain, seeing as how the police don't even know she's dead yet."

Cas stared back at him, not following.

"They don't call in the FBI until _after _they find the body."

"But we're not real FBI."

"Then they definitely wouldn't call us in. Look, man, we'll do it ourselves. But you'll either want to call in the police, or clean this up as soon as you can, okay?"

Castiel looked around the warehouse, covered in spray-painted Enochian symbols, currently filled with lit candles and a dead body in the middle.

"Okay."

* * *

This takes place during Season 8, which I've only watched once, so there may be errors.

I've often posted stories in one go, but I'm dividing this one into four to see if that makes it easier to read.

Although the title won't make any sense yet.

Any reviews gratefully received!


	2. Chapter 2

**2.**

Much later, the boys had managed to track down the footage they needed, and brought it to the angels.

"It's not much," Sam told them, bringing up the black-and-white, grainy images on the laptop. "It's from the streets outside, just before the murder."

They watched. A woman, just recognisable as Lailah, walked toward the building in the dark. She went inside. For a while, nothing happened.

"It goes quiet. But if I skip ahead..."

Sam moved the footage forward. A blinding flash of white light filled the warehouse, spilling out into the street, then snapped back, as if it had never been.

Zoe choked back a small sob, her hand over her mouth.

"Poor Lailah."

"Is that everything?" Castiel asked.

"Afraid so."

Sam reached over to turn off the film, but Castiel intercepted his hand.

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"There."

He pointed to the warehouse door, which had opened and closed, seemingly by itself.

"I can't see anything," Dean spoke up.

"Me neither," Sam added. "Cas? What is it?"

"I don't know. Let me see it again."

Sam ran the footage back, playing it from the flash of light that signified Lailah's murder.

As the door opened once more, the angels leaned forwards, both frowning in concentration.

"Stop."

Sam paused the playback, but neither brother could see a thing.

Then Zoe gasped in horror.

"My God. No!"

She turned sharply, walking away, clearly upset.

Castiel was looking grim again, anger starting to bubble under the façade of calm.

"Cas, what is it? What can you see?"

Dean was starting to get worried. What the hell could this thing be?

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know? Can you see it or not?"

"I can see something. It's... unclear."

"Then what's her problem?" Dean jerked his head to indicate Zoe, crying in the corner.

"It's not an angel. But... it is something like an angel. It's hard to explain."

"Try."

"Look..." Cas hesitated, clearly uncomfortable.

"There are rules about what we're allowed to do, when we take human vessels. I don't know if they could be enforced now, but they're pretty well ingrained within us. It's... taboo."

"What is?" Dean's frustration was spilling out into his tone.

"Procreation. Specifically with a human."

There was a brief moment while that sank in.

"Wait, I've read something about that," Sam spoke up. "Nephilim, is that it?"

"That is the name for a human/angel halfbreed," Cas agreed. "But that-" he pointed at the screen.

"Is not a Nephilim. I don't know what it is. But is something unnatural, and it does have certain aspects of an angel."

"Oh, great. Yet another new kind of monster." The sarcasm was back in Dean's voice. "Like we don't have enough of those."

"Could it be the stolen Grace that gives it whatever aspect it is you can see?" Sam asked.

Cas shook his head.

"No. It might be using the Grace to boost whatever bastardised powers it has, but that wouldn't transform something into an angel."

"But what about the warding?" Dean asked.

"That wouldn't work on an abomination like this. It's not an angel. I - I've not seen anything like this before."

Cas got up, abruptly, going over to Zoe. The two angels conversed rapidly in low, hushed tones. Zoe appeared to be crying again, Castiel just looked grim.

Eventually, Zoe nodded and Castiel patted her shoulder, reassuringly before returning to the Winchesters.

"Zoe and I agree that this needs to be kept quiet. I do not want any more angels to learn about this, but... I would appreciate your help."

"We're gonna need more to go on," Dean pointed out. "Like, how can we kill it?"

"I'm not sure. An Angel sword might be enough, and Zoe is far more proficient in sigils than I am. She may be able to create a trap that would hold it."

"And how do we get it into the trap?" Sam asked. "Dean and I can't even see it."

"If the warding is successful, then we should be able to render it visible. But you're right, we will have to draw it out."

"Please tell me the next words outta your mouth aren't gonna be 'Zoe and I will use ourselves as bait'." Dean shook his head. "Cos that's never ended well for us."

Castiel seemed taken aback.

"It is the most logical step to take."

"Yeah, if logic means 'gets you both killed by something we don't know how to gank," Dean snapped back. "Come on, man. There's gotta be a better way."

"You know, we weren't planning on just hanging around here until the abomination showed up again," Zoe interrupted, appearing suddenly at Dean's elbow.

"I thought we might try something a little more public first, just to get her attention."

"Her?" Sam echoed. "You're sure it's a her?"

Zoe looked confused.

"Of course. Couldn't you tell that?"

"Uh, we can't see it. Isn't making yourself invisible an angel thing?"

Zoe visibly recoiled, wrinkling her nose like there was a bad smell in the room.

"Ugh. Don't call her that. She is _not _an angel. And other things can do that too."

"What do mean public?" Dean cut in, no patience with Zoe's obvious distaste.

"You gonna out yourself as an angel and see if she comes running?"

The little punk angel looked up at him, and grinned.

* * *

"Fear not, my brothers and sisters!" Zoe declared, climbing up on the bench.

"For I am an Angel of the Lord and I am here to tell you now that he has not abandoned you!"

For such a petite vessel, she had a surprisingly loud voice, and it carried right across the square. Heads turned in curiosity, and though most continued about their business, a small crowd quickly gathered as she declaimed her message.

"I have heard the word of God, and it is good!" she hollered, waving her arms in the air.

Most of the crowd didn't seem to be paying much attention to what she was saying, more interested in taking pictures or filming her on their phones. One young couple, dressed rather like Zoe herself, even stood right in front of her and took a selfie as the angel continued her speech, relishing the opportunity to tell the absolute truth to humans, knowing they wouldn't believe a word.

It was a full five minutes before the cops got there, and, dispersing the crowd, politely asked her to get down. The brothers weren't sure if it was angelic influence that caused such mild treatment, or if they were scared she was about to go postal on them. Or maybe they'd seen "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."

Cheerfully, Zoe hopped down and scampered away, back to where Dean and Sam were waiting for her. Castiel was standing around the corner, waiting a safe distance away to avoid immediate detection, and the three of them headed over to him.

"Think that'll do?" She asked. "We could try again someplace else soon, make sure we get maximum coverage."

But Sam was already checking his phone.

"I don't think we need to."

He turned it around so the others could see; one of the crowd had uploaded the video of Zoe's speech already.

Zoe's face lit up.

"I look _awesome_!"

"I don't pretend to understand humanity," was Castiel's contribution. "But it would appear that the current obsession with this kind of technology does have its uses."

"Now what?" Dean asked. "Hope whatever this monster is, it uses YouTube? Then what?"

"I suggest she remain visible for much of the day," Cas replied. "From what we already know of what happened to Lailah, the abomination will make the next move."

"Great." There was more than a hint of sarcasm in Dean's tone. "Maybe at the next show, you should try announcing you like hanging round in old empty warehouses. That'd speed things up."

"I don't mind going again!" Zoe chirruped. "This is fun!"

* * *

They tried a park next time, with similar results, then outside a bar as the light started to fail, but this time got little interest. Passers-by just assumed she was drunk, or crazy and the boys were about to intervene when a note was shoved into Zoe's hand.

She looked down at it, surprised, and the Winchesters hurried after the deliverer, grabbing him as he rounded a corner.

"What did you give her?" Dean demanded, shoving the startled lad against the wall.

"What?"

"That note!"

Castiel caught them up, staring intently at the young man.

"It's not him. He's human."

"Human? Of course I'm human! Who the hell are you people?"

"The note," Sam repeated. "What is it?"

"I don't know! This guy just asked me to give it to her, said they were friends and he wanted to surprise her! What's wrong with that?"

Dean released him.

"Smart monsters. This keeps getting better and better."

The young man looked at the three crazy people confronting him, and took the opportunity to leg it. They let him go, and went back to Zoe.

"It's an invitation," she told them, waving the slip of paper.

"Let me guess - meet me at a dark, abandoned building at midnight?" Dean snarked.

Zoe pulled a face.

"Pretty much. I mean, they managed to make it not sound sinister, but..."

Sam took the note, reading it aloud.

"I also hear the voice of God. If you are really an angel, I need to speak with you. Meet me at San Andreas church tonight, 11pm."

"It's a trap," Castiel stated.

"Of course it's a trap." Sam raised his eyebrows. "Wasn't that the whole point of doing this? We just have to make sure we're there first."

"I'm free now." Zoe took the note back. "Can we get coffee first?"

* * *

The church seemed perfectly normal. The brothers did a quick circuit around the outside, checking for exit routes, while the angels looked for sigils or signs of anything angelic or demonic.

They met inside, talking quietly on a pew.

"Nothin' suspicious so far," Dean reported. "Everything looks, you know, like a church."

"So at least we know it's not likely to be a demon," Sam added. "If it chose hallowed ground for a meet point."

"I find this choice of location disturbing," Castiel replied. "As if the abomination is mocking us."

"But it's such a pretty church!" Zoe piped up. "And the people here are all nice; I can hear it in their prayer."

There was a short, awkward pause.

"Um, that's great. Why don't you stay here with them until the - whatever this thing is - turns up?" Sam suggested.

She nodded, eyes sparkling with excitement and practically skipped toward the altar, candles spontaneously lighting around her as she went.

The boys watched her, puzzled.

"Well, it's a good job the plan doesn't involve _her _being inconspicuous," Dean sighed.

"Is she - I mean, was she always that way?" Sam asked Cas.

"Not originally," the trench-coated angel replied. "Zophiel... Zoe was tasked with a number of undertakings in the past that she now has difficulty in dealing with. She can be... changeable."

"Is she up to this?" Dean asked, bluntly. "Cos we are using her as bait for something that kills angels, which seems like the stupidest thing we've done in, oh, weeks?"

"I'm sure she can handle herself. And the abomination is not expecting us to be here as well."

"Let's hope not."

They concealed themselves around the church, and settled in to wait.

* * *

For hours, nothing happened. People came in to pray, or speak with a priest, and they left. The church had almost emptied entirely by 11pm, and Zoe, having drawn out her wardings in chalk on the ground, was amusing herself by sparking candles alight, then snuffing them out without touching them. Then all of a sudden, she leapt to her feet, alert and wary.

"They're coming!" She gasped, causing her three companions to also switch from waiting to active.

Sam went over to the priest, leading him to a side door, asking him to stay out of the way until it was over. Confused, the man did as Sam asked

\- and narrowly avoided being set on fire as the first bomb came shattering through the window. It exploded on impact, an immense fireball engulfing the first few rows of the church, knocking everyone inside off their feet.

"Get out! Go!" Castiel shouted, striding through the flames toward his fellow angel, who was sitting on the floor, looking around in utter bewilderment.

Sam followed the priest through the side door, ushering the other man out through the emergency exit, while Dean sprinted for the main doors. He barely made it when a second bomb burst through a different window, on the other side of the building. Feeling a wash of intense heat on his back, he threw himself down as the flames shot out of the building, reaching greedily for the sky.

He glanced back, just about making out Cas and Zoe as they battled the flames - did angels have power over fire? he wondered.

Then the booted foot made painful contact with his skull, and everything went black.

Sam and the priest made it to the emergency exit before the second bomb hit, avoiding the flames but the smoke followed them and the two men were forced to stop before they could get far, coughing and choking. That was enough of a distraction for them to get the drop on Sam, and though he gave it his best, they quickly overwhelmed him and he joined his brother in unconsciousness. The priest they had no need for, so they killed him, knifing him quickly and leaving him behind as they dragged Sam away.


	3. Chapter 3

**3.**

By the time the Winchesters woke up, a lot had happened. Their abductors had taken them away from the church, to another abandoned building, far too similar to where Lailah had been killed. The main difference, though, was that where they'd found Lailah's body hadn't been on fire.

The brothers were tied to chairs, facing a pair of flaming circles on the ground. Lying within each circle was an angel; Cas was being guarded by a number of sinister looking men, and Zoe was screaming.

Sam and Dean struggled to see what was going on, then the flames surrounding Zoe dipped a little, allowing them to see the other figure kneeling over her. It was another woman, taller, also dressed in dark clothes with dyed hair, but longer, pitch black, more like the frontwoman of a rock band; Dean thought she looked kind of like Alison Mosshart.

The light in the warehouse was poor, but they couldn't fail to see the spark of a fragment of Zoe's Grace lift from the cut in her throat, drawn upward by an unseen force toward the other woman. To their utter bewilderment, she inhaled it, breathing it in like vapour and when she opened her eyes again, they flared an unearthly Blue.

Seeing her captives were awake, she got to her feet, leaving poor Zoe forgotten on the ground.

"About time, sleeping beauties."

She stepped over the Holy Fire effortlessly - it didn't even seem to scorch her boots - and came closer. Her heavies moved to stand between the two flaming circles, guarding the angels.

"Well, I really got myself a haul and a half this time, didn't I? Not just double your pleasure on the Heavenly Host front, but their hunter friends too. And you two didn't exactly fall out of the ugly tree, did you?"

She stroked a hand down Dean's face, pushing the fingers on her other hand through Sam's hair.

"Who knows how useful you'll be? I bet you got a stash of lore in those pretty heads about our feathered friends, yes?"

The boys recoiled, trying to pull away from her caressing hands. The strange woman shivered, her eyes closing again as for a moment her face became a picture of ecstasy.

She stepped back, shuddering again.

"Wow, that's good stuff. Mmm. Really hits the spot."

She turned back to Zoe, who was whimpering on the ground, trying and failing to free herself from her bonds.

"You are absolutely _delicious_. You know that?"

The Winchesters stared at her, realisation beginning to dawn.

"Is she... high?" Sam muttered, glancing over at his brother.

"On angel Grace? That's new."

"And disturbing," Sam agreed. They looked over to Castiel, who appeared to be unconscious. Which was no less disturbing.

The woman span around again, taking in the matching looks of disgust on their faces.

"Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes. "Like this is any different to what you do."

"Lady, I don't know what it is you think we do, but it ain't that." Dean nodded at the little angel she'd been torturing.

"Really? You never enjoyed killing something you hunted? Cos not only are you two every walking cliché I ever heard about hunters, it couldn't be any clearer you're hopeless adrenaline junkies if you had it tattooed on your foreheads."

Dean opened his mouth to protest, but Sam cut in.

"And what are you, then? If you got our number, what's yours?"

She grinned, reaching out to stroke his hair again. This time, he didn't flinch, meeting her eyes. A faint hint of glowing Blue remained.

"I'm Cat. And I think you'll find, my lovelies, that what I am, is unique."

When they didn't react, she seemed disappointed.

"Really? Guess you've been in the game a long time, if that doesn't impress."

The brothers stared back at her, trying to keep up poker faces as they assessed the situation. Which was bad.

"You want my life story? Fine. I'm a half-breed. That part you know, right? Your God Squad friends told you I'm some kind of abomination that shouldn't be allowed to walk the earth? Cos I get that a lot. But no-one's ever managed to work out what I am."

"Boring?" Dean snapped, losing patience.

He'd faced a lot of monsters, but generally they weren't high as kites. Though a lot of them did like to talk about themselves, and sometimes they let something slip, something important.

Cat seemed amused.

"Me, boring? Sweetheart, I could really blow your mind if I wanted to. And with that pretty face of yours, I just might give it a try."

Sam, working along much the same lines as Dean, intervened.

"We were thinking demon. About you, I mean. Close?"

Cat smiled, pleased.

"Half right. Daddy was a demon. I mean, I never met him, but Mom said he was. High up too. I got all kinds of fun stuff from him."

"And the other half?" Sam prompted. He was a little surprised to discover he was genuinely curious; they'd killed a lot of monsters in their time, and sometimes it was almost good to come across something new. Something different. As long as they could kill it, of course.

Cat's smile got bigger, the Blue in her eyes sparking.

"No idea? Not a one?"

Silence greeted her.

"Alright, I'll tell you."

She paused for dramatic effect, clearly enjoying the moment.

"Reaper."

The brothers stared at her, disbelief written across their faces.

"What? How is that possible?"

Behind her, they could hear Zoe weeping, but Cat ignored her victim, too caught up in showing off.

"You know there's two ways Reapers manifest, right? There's the usual way, kind of a spiritual thing, when they collect souls. But that's just in the Veil; they can possess humans too, when they go rogue, and that's just what Mommy Dearest did. See, she'd gotten bored and when the boss wasn't looking, she hopped into a meatsuit and took it for a joyride. She fell in with a bad crowd, started consorting with demons, and one of them knocked her up."

"Can demons do that?" Sam asked, directing the question to Dean, who shrugged.

Cat leaned over Sam, hands on his shoulders, her face very close to his.

"Would you like me to draw you a diagram? Or perhaps a demonstration?"

"Uh, no thanks. I just meant.. . if they were both possessing host bodies, how could... you... happen?"

Cat giggled like a schoolgirl.

"Am I making you blush, hunter?"

She planted a big wet kiss on his forehead, then spun away again, going back to Zoe.

"What other answer could there be? Magic."

She stood over the stricken angel, looking down at her the way a chef might look at a cut of meat. She knelt, straddling her victim's body as she drew the angel sword again, making a new incision in Zoe's throat. Zoe made a weak cry.

"You shouldn't be," she panted. "Creatures like you are nothing but mistakes."

"Of course I am, sweetheart," Cat replied, patting Zoe's cheek. "Mom told me that a lot when I was growing up. Which was in Hell, by the way, so you shouldn't really be surprised I'm not all things sugar and spice. Now hold still, this is the tricky part."

Zoe refused, struggling harder but it was pointless. Cat drew the blade up, away from the skin of the angel's vessel, pulling a thin sparkling thread of Grace with it.

She looked back over at Sam and Dean.

"You see this? You have no idea how tempting this is to the Reaper part of me. Guess that's part of the skills I inherited from Mom; the way she can detach a soul from a human, I can take Grace from an angel."

"But why?" Sam asked, thoroughly confused.

"Why d'you think?" Dean grunted. "Because she's crazier than a bag of cats."

"You're not far wrong," Cat agreed. She yanked on the thread, separating it from Zoe and inhaling it. She shivered again, violently, leaping to her feet.

"I mean, I didn't set out to get hooked on angel juice. But the first real angel I ever met tried to kill me, so I tried to kill him right back. He was so mad, calling me every name he could think of, saying how I was an abomination in the eyes of God and all that."

She glanced down at the weeping angel at her feet.

"Seems that's a pretty common opinion. But anyway, he got so mad, he let his guard down and I got this from him."

She waved the angel sword.

"Stabbed him with it a few times and there was all this lovely sparkly stuff. And like I said, the Reaper part of me couldn't help but pull it out."

"And you thought, hey, why not snort it?" Dean's patience, thin on the ground to begin with, was long gone. He'd been testing the ropes that held him over and over and couldn't feel any give. And with Cas still not waking up, he was struggling to think of another way to stop this crazy whatever-the-hell-she-was from killing Zoe, and probably them too.

"Why not?"

Cat stepped out of the circle again - the flames were burning much lower now, as if the oil was running out. Where had she got if from in the first place?

She glided over to Dean, swinging a long, denim-clad leg over his so she could park herself in his lap.

"I'll let you in on a little secret," she stage-whispered in his ear. "I'm something of a hedonist."

"No, really?" Dean had never sounded more sarcastic, but that only served to please Cat.

"Uh huh. I mean, how else was I gonna turn out? You boys have been to Hell, right? How easy d'you think it is to spend your childhood there? Having to hide from Mom's boss so he didn't destroy us both, hated by everyone who knew I existed. Soon as I got out and came upstairs, I started exploring and you guys have _all _the fun stuff, don't you?"

Dean steeled himself to meet her eyes, wide and bright and glittering.

"Is that supposed to make us feel sorry for you? You had a rough time growing up, so that makes it okay to torture people to death so you can get high?"

"They're not people," Cat replied, dismissively, her hands squeezing his shoulders.

"And as for high... human drugs didn't do much for me, but I got hit with some Holy Water once, and the way it burned?"

Her whole manner suddenly shifted, her body tensing as her breath drew in sharply. She grabbed a handful of his hair, tilting his head as she dug the nails of her other hand into his shoulder. She leaned in close, her lips barely an inch from his and he thought about trying to head-butt her but the intensity in her face made him doubt she'd even react.

"I liked it. A lot. Nothing else had ever given me a hit like that. So I did it again. And again. But that wasn't enough, so I started mainlining it. Oh, _man_!"

She released him, springing to her feet again and pacing around the room, the memory of past highs mingling with her current one.

"You cannot imagine. You really can't."

"You - injected Holy Water?" Sam asked, utterly incredulous.

She whipped back around, suddenly defensive, almost angry.

"Oh, like you can talk. Even I know about your little blood habit, Junior."

Sam flinched, frowning.

"What, you thought everyone'd forgotten? Or are you still jonesing for a taste?"

She pressed her wrist to his mouth, forcing him to twist his head away, lips pressed tightly closed, fury rising.

"No? Not even a little? Bet you never tried angel and demon at once. What would _that _do to you?"

Sam wrenched back, yanking on the ropes that held him to the chair, close to hyperventilating in anger.

Cat smiled and let him go.

"Not even a little demon left in you, then. The demon part of me is what makes the Holy Water burn, but it can't hurt me too bad, can't kill me. The Reaper half protects me. And I like it when it hurts."

"Kinky," Dean muttered, not at all enjoying the experience. "A masochistic half-demon, half-Reaper with a smack habit. That tops everything, I think."

Either Cat didn't hear him or didn't care.

"And when I came across Grace... that was it. I was hooked. But it's not that easy to come by, so that reminds me."

She gestured to one of her henchmen - and the Winchesters could see now that they were demons, every one - who brought her a box filled with glass bottles, the old-fashioned kind with stoppers.

"Gotta save some for a rainy day."

At least three of the bottles were filled with tiny slivers of glowing Grace. Cat took out an empty one and stepped back into the flaming circle that trapped Zoe, picking up the angel sword again. The look on her face was intense, and her smile as inhuman as her soul - or whatever it was that she possessed.

"No!" Sam bellowed, struggling harder. He looked over to Dean, who was testing his own ropes again, to no avail.

"Tell me they missed a knife when they searched you. Something. _Anything_."

Dean shook his head tersely.

"Nothin'. Looks like we gotta do this the hard way. What'd she do to Cas?"

"I don't know. But she's gonna kill Zoe if we don't get out now."

"It's too late."

Sam looked back over at the demon/Reaper half-breed. Having extracted all but the last drop of Zoe's Grace, sealing it into the bottle she handed back to her demon attendant, she was stroking Zoe's face, the blade held to the angel's throat.

"Shh, little mouse. Don't cry. You lived a good life, I can see that. All your past troubles, all those weights that lay heavy on your shoulders... All gone. Time to sleep."

Switching her hold on the blade, she raised it high in the air, stabbing it down straight into Zoe's heart.

Zoe screamed, her body arching on the ground as the remains of her Grace, slight though they were, streamed out of her in a flash so bright Sam and Dean were forced to close their eyes.

When they opened them again, the ring of Holy Fire was extinguished, and the ground was scarred with the scorchmarks of Zophiel's wings.

Cat leapt to her feet, the blade clattering to the ground as the new high hit her; the Winchesters hadn't seen, but once the Grace had flashed out of Zoe at the moment of her death, Cat had absorbed it directly in through her skin, lending it a faint glow.

"Fuck! Fuckfuckfuck, that is the best, the best!"

She launched herself at one of her demon consorts, leaping up into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist, kissing him passionately. He grabbed hold of her and kissed her back, the other demons looking on with lascivious smiles of approval.

"Come on, hot stuff. I want to make the most of this while it lasts, and the disapproval of our current audience bores me."

She cast a dismissive glance back at the brothers, who were still staring at the empty corpse of Zoe's host, lying within the painted sigils.

"You two. Keep an eye on our guests. I'll have need of them all later."

Her minions nodded their assent, and her demon lover carried her away.


	4. Chapter 4

**4.**

After Cat had gone, the remaining two demons went back over to the still unconscious Castiel, checking the sigils and burning Holy Fire surrounding him.

"Alright, one way or another, we are ending this chick," Dean muttered, looking grimmer than Sam had seen him in a long time.

"That'd be enough-" he nodded at the sad little corpse on the floor. "But all this... How come we never come across monsters who just kill people anymore? How come it's always gotta be-" He pulled a face.

"Sick and twisted?"Sam finished for him, looking no less grim.

Dean shook his head like a dog shaking off water, as if he could shake off the disgust he felt at the situation.

"Enough. How we gonna do this?"

"With help?" Sam hazarded. "She said her mom's boss'd destroy her - that's Death right? Could we summon him?"

"He wouldn't help us again. And by the sound of it, she's been out in the world a while. He doesn't care about her. Not enough for what we need anyhow."

"How 'bout Crowley?"

Dean stared at his brother.

"You high too?"

"I don't mean we summon him. But what d'you think he'd say if he knew what she was doing? Maybe if we could get the word out, he'd set something on her."

Dean shook his head again.

"No. Plan B, maybe, if we can't stop her now. No, I think we need to work on getting Cas out. He can call for backup on the angel radio."

"More angels?" It was Sam's turn to be sceptical. "You hoping if enough of them get near her, she'll just explode ?"

Dean rolled his eyes.

"Sam, come on! Look, maybe we don't need anyone else. She's not all that powerful. Can't be if she has to have back-up."

He nodded at the demons, who were conscientiously re-painting the sigils.

"She just got lucky."

"We got stupid," Sam replied. "We knew what we were doing was stupid, and we did it anyway."

"What's new? Come on, work with me."

Sam looked over the pair of demons once more.

"You know, maybe she's not the only way who got lucky."

"What?"

"You see what he's got in his belt?"

Dean looked.

"Sonofabitch."

The demons were carrying the Winchesters' knives, including the one they'd gotten from Ruby, all those years ago.

"Think it'll work on her?"

"Maybe. Know it'll work on them."

The brothers exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing.

"Okay."

The demons stood up, examining their handiwork.

"What's the matter?" Dean called out. "Worried Teacher won't give you that 'A' if you don't get it right?"

The two possessed bodies turned in response. Dean smirked.

"Cos I think she's a little too busy with 'extra-curricular activities' right now to give you that gold star for effort you so desperately want."

"She's our boss," one of the demons replied, frowning.

"And why is that?" Sam asked, following Dean's lead. "How come you ended up working for a half-breed junkie?"

The other demon drew his knife, leaving Castiel and advancing on the brothers.

"Hey, you watch you mouth, hunter. She told me not to kill you. She didn't say nothin' about not cuttin' you up a little."

"Oh, so you're hoping if you hang around long enough, she'll get tired of the other guy and you get to take his place? That it?"

Sam hid the fury within under a façade of antagonism, hoping to provoke a fatal attack of stupidity. Hell, it'd worked on demons before.

"I said, watch your mouth."

The demons were right in front of them now, weapons drawn.

"All the folks I worked for before? Compared to them, she's a lady," the first demon spoke up.

"Sure, she's got her kinks and her vices, but we're hardly the type to judge someone for that. As for you... we all know about you two, and your feathered friend over there. All the things you've done? We're practically saints."

"I think the people you're wearing right now would disagree," Dean threw back.

The first demon looked back at Cas.

"And what about his? You judge us for taking a body, but not his?"

"Angels have to have permission," Dean replied, trying to keep a lid on his own anger. "They don't joyride like you assclowns."

"Neither does the boss," the demon replied, the lascivious smile back on his borrowed face. "She was born into that body; it's all hers. Every sweet inch of it."

"And that makes up for everything?"

Sam nodded over at Zoe's body, lying forgotten on the floor.

"You think I'm gonna cry over an angel and her meatsuit?" The demon sneered.

"Her name was Zophiel."

Everyone turned their heads to stare.

Slowly, Castiel got to his feet; without Cat there to keep the spell going, he had woken, though the sigils and Holy Fire kept him trapped.

"Long before your demon kind had begun to walk this earth, she was tasked by God with the expulsion of humans from Paradise. She obeyed because we knew no other way then, but it has weighed heavily on her. All she wanted to do since then was help humans. And you murdered her."

"Wasn't me, pal. That was the boss."

Castiel stared back at him; he may have been spellbound, but he could still scare the bejeebus out of two low-level demons like these two.

"That will not stop me from blasting you into non-existence."

The demons tried to keep up their swagger.

"You... you don't scare me. I know you can't get out of there. You can't do nothin'."

Cas' expression didn't flicker.

"I believe the correct response is, 'come in here and say that'."

The demons hesitated and, while they were distracted, Dean took the opportunity to hurl himself, and the chair he was tied to, sideways into the demon next to him. They both crashed to the ground, wood shattering, and Sam immediately followed suit. The fight that followed was hard and bloody, but the Winchesters had been fighting demons a long time now, and they were sufficiently pissed off that their anger lent enough adrenaline for them to free themselves and take the demons down. The first they stabbed with the knife, and at the sight of his colleague sparking out of existence, the other decided Cat wasn't worth dying for and promptly smoked out of his meatsuit. With bigger fish to fry, they let him go, barely noticing the body he'd been possessing immediately drop dead.

"What now?"

The brothers hurried over to Cas, starting to erase the sigils until a thought struck Sam.

"Wait! We need to build a trap for Cat, when she comes back."

"How?" Dean asked. "What would work on her?"

"What is she?" Cas cut in.

"Uh, turns out she's half-demon, half-Reaper," Sam explained, unsure what the angel's reaction would be.

Cas' brow furrowed.

"That's not possible."

"It's what she told us. That's how she can extract the Grace - the Reaper part of her lets her do it the way they take human souls."

"What does she want it for? It won't turn her into an angel."

"Look, we don't have time for this," Dean interrupted, also concerned about how his friend would react to what Cat had been doing. "There's such a thing as a Reaper trap, right? Maybe if we put one of those over this, we could trap her in it."

"What about her demon side?" Sam asked.

"So we put a devil's trap down too. And we do it before we put the fire out, so she won't see it?"

"Then what?"

"I'll take care of her," Castiel promised, not a hint of emotion in his voice, keeping all thought hidden on his borrowed face.

"Maybe you won't have to."

Sam handed the demon-killing knife to Dean and went over to where Zoe's body lay, picking up the fallen angel blade from beside her. He hesitated for a second, then leaned down to cut her ropes away.

"It doesn't seem right to leave her like that."

"Okay, let's do this."

Dean picked up a spray can and, tossing another to Cas, inside the circle, they got to work.

* * *

Cat came back down the stairs, stretching and yawning. The high from the Grace had worn down to a pleasant buzz and, coupled with all the sex, she was feeling pretty satisfied. And there was another whole angel waiting for her! Think of all the Grace she could get, not just from him but from the other angels he could lead her to. And if he wouldn't, maybe the Winchesters would. And if they couldn't, well she'd just torture them in front of the angel until he gave in. _Everyone _had heard about the Winchesters and their pet angel, knew how inseparable they were. This was turning out to be a pretty good day.

The surviving angel was lying in his still burning circle when she got there, the hunters sitting on the chairs she's had them tied to, half-hidden by shadows. She couldn't see her minions, but then that was the problem with hiring demons as muscle. Dumb as posts, most of them. Still, they had their uses.

"Hello there, beautifuls. Have you been having a nice time? I have."

The angel stirred at the sound of her voice and Cat sighed. Magic was such hard work. Nothing ever kept going unless you sat by it, concentrating the whole time. Thank fuck for the symbols she'd learned; wasn't it amazing what people put on the internet?

She went straight over to him, noticing with a frown he wasn't tied as Zoe had been.

"Huh. Did I forget to get my boys to pin you down? Guess I was a little... distracted. And you look so _cute _when you're sleeping, I didn't want to spoil it. That's gonna make this a little harder, but never mind."

She closed her eyes, beginning the spell again that would put him under, and was so caught up in her work that she didn't notice the hunters get up from their chairs, anymore than she'd noticed they weren't tied up, or that the chairs weren't the same ones that had been there earlier, now crushed to splinters and hidden in the corner.

It wasn't until they were right behind her that she sensed movement, whirling round and flinging out her hands, hurling the boys across the room telekinetically - had to have gotten something from Daddy, right? She could teleport too, if she chose to. Invisibility, that came from both sides and she had a few tricks from Mom too.

The young men slammed into the far wall, landing in untidy heaps on the ground, but the impetus had pushed her back a step, and Cat landed right on the edge of the circle, allowing Castiel to grab hold of her and pull her in.

He had one arm locked around her neck, the other hand landing flat on her forehead, but she felt his power spark and fizz, unable to gather together enough to destroy her until her magic was gone. Cat felt a thrill of victory that despite all their efforts, she was still going to win, when she realised that the magic in play here was not just her own. Her spell was crippling Castiel's power, but there were new symbols on the ground, ones that dampened her own and Cat felt her victory wither and die.

Unhampered by demons, angels or half-breeds, the Winchesters sprang back on their feet, too used to getting thrown into walls to let it slow them down. Powerless to stop them, Cat watched in horror as they had both leapt into the circle and stabbed her. One of them held an angel blade, the other one of the knives she'd had her boys confiscate from them earlier. She hadn't recognised its power then, but she couldn't miss it now; one blade for each half of her.

White light shot out from her wounds, and Cat knew they were mortal.

"That's new," she gasped, and she died.

Castiel let go of her immediately, letting her body fall to the floor. The Winchesters stepped out of the Holy Fire, Dean picking up the extinguisher they'd found and releasing Cas from the circle, Sam erasing symbols.

Cas went straight over to the box housing Cat's collection of glass bottles, taking one out and then smashing the rest on the ground, releasing the trapped Grace.

His face showed no trace of the emotion the brothers knew he must be experiencing, angel or no angel, as he went over to Zoe's remains. Gently, he placed the bottle with her remaining Grace on her chest, and opened it. The light slipped out, slowly, hovering over the body for a moment, before it dissipated, leaving nothing behind.

There was silence, then Cas reached forward and closed the eyes of what had been her vessel.

"Goodbye, Zophiel."

Sam cleared his throat, awkwardly.

"Did she... really throw Adam and Eve out of Paradise?"

"Yes. It was more like escorted, but she was the one assigned that task."

Maybe they would have said more, but they were interrupted by the remaining demon, the one they'd forgotten about, coming down the stairs and seeing the body of his murdered boss/lover.

Bellowing with rage, he threw himself at the three men before him, but before he could get two steps, Castiel threw out a hand, and the demon was knocked over by an invisible force.

Pinned to the ground, the demon struggled like a trapped bug but Cas wasn't interested in prolonging his suffering. He just wanted him dead.

Kneeling over him, Cas pressed a hand to the demon's head, there was a flash, and the demon was gone.

Sam looked down at the body, frowning.

"You know, it took me awhile, but we saw him before. When Zoe was putting on that first show, he and a woman were watching."

Dean joined him.

"Really? Same guy? How'd we miss that?"

"We weren't looking for him. It wasn't Cat with him, either. You think there's another of her minions out there?"

Dean reached down and took the former demon's cellphone out from the jacket pocket, flicking through the stored pictures until he found the selfie taken in front of Zoe.

"Right, that's not her."

He passed it to Cas, who barely looked at it.

"Yes it is. She must have been stronger than I thought she was."

"Stronger at what?"

"Reapers have the ability to change their appearance, and also to hide themselves. Usually I can see them, but perhaps it was the combination of Reaper and demon that made it so difficult to recognise her chameleonic abilities."

"Well... if she was the only one, then it doesn't matter."

Dean looked around the room, littered with corpses and magical paraphernalia.

"Let's get out of here."

"You go on," Castiel dropped the cellphone down onto the body at his feet. "There's something I need to do."

The brothers looked at each other, deciding they didn't much want to know.

* * *

They'd just about made it across the street from the dilapidated warehouse when an enormous explosion blew out the remaining windows.

Sam and Dean ducked, but the explosion was strangely contained, the flames being sucked back into the building, which was already starting to collapse in on itself.

Castiel walked out of the burning structure, utterly unconcerned by the raging inferno.

"What was that?"

"The last of the Holy Oil. I don't know where she got it, but this seemed appropriate. You burn the bodies of your fallen comrades; I thought perhaps this time, I should do the same."

The three of them watched the warehouse burn.

"Remember when we used to let ourselves care about all the collateral damage?" Sam asked, half-rhetorically. "You know, the vessels and the meatsuits. Trying exorcism first, instead of just taking them out."

Dean shrugged.

"It'd be easier if it was just monsters, sure. But they started it; stealing bodies, forcing innocent people to do whatever the possessor wants. We can't be responsible for that anymore."

"I know. Just sayin'."

"They will no doubt be rewarded in Heaven," Cas added.

None of them sounded particularly convinced by what they were saying, but the events of the day had been too emotionally exhausting for them to try any harder.

Eventually, Dean broke the silence.

"Beer?"

"Sure," Sam replied, already turning away from the flaming wreckage.

Cas stared at the fire a moment longer.

"Why not."

The angel and the hunters walked away, leaving the remains of the only one of her kind to burn, along with the bodies of her cronies, and that of her victim.

Maybe they didn't notice, or maybe they just didn't care but outside the warehouse, Reapers had begun to gather.

* * *

The inspiration for this came from a single lyric, from 'Ten Tonne Skeleton' by Royal Blood - "Got high from a holy vein."

I started to wonder who (or what) could get high from something holy without it harming them, and this grew out of that thought. And as Reaper canon is so screwed up, I figured it didn't matter too much if this was plausible.

I'm still not sure if I like this or not, so please let me know what you think!

BTW, if anyone's read my "Winchester Sisters" stories, in which I re-imagine the series as having female leads, Cat and Zoe were names I considered for the sisters (Cat for Sam and Zoe for Dean) before deciding on Alex and Tara. (There's no real symbolism for me using the names here, I just thought they fitted).


End file.
